"Yes, we can be cross-time besties."
The Empress Dowager didn't understand what "besties" meant, but a little thought made it easy to grasp. Besties must refer to close friends in the boudoir, like sworn sisters. The smile on her face grew more genuine, though what she wanted was far more than just a sworn sister.
"You were staring at me just now—did you notice something wrong?"
Shen Yunyun quickly said, "No." No matter how low her emotional intelligence was, she knew better than to say to someone's face, "You look older, don't you?"
"You've come at the perfect time. Today is the Emperor's coming-of-age ceremony. Please join me in observing it."
Shen Yunyun was instantly stunned. "What did you say? Little Tangyuan is coming of age?" If she remembered correctly, coming of age meant twenty years old. She was sure she had already adjusted the time, so why were the flow rates different again?
The Empress Dowager looked at her with some confusion. Shen Yunyun realized she had lost her composure and quickly said, "Sorry, I've been busy lately."
"I understand. A day in heaven is a year on earth."
Shen Yunyun: "..."
Since an excuse had been handed to her, she might as well take the hint and go along.
The Emperor's coming-of-age ceremony was grand. Shen Yunyun went with the Empress Dowager to the Imperial Ancestral Temple. In the past, women weren't allowed in the temple, but now that the Empress Dowager was in power, that rule had changed. As soon as the Empress Dowager arrived, the ceremony began.
The Emperor, surrounded by his ministers, came to the temple. He first bowed to the Empress Dowager with clasped hands, then made a respectful gesture toward Shen Yunyun. When Shen Yunyun saw the Emperor, her heart pounded wildly. This man was even more handsome than his portrait. The features were the same, but the real person had a vitality to him. Yes, vitality. She stared blankly at Tang Yuan.
The Emperor nodded slightly, a hint of a smile flickering in his eyes. He knew that no matter how many lifetimes or worlds she passed through, she would still be drawn to this appearance of his. In the past, he thought she was a bit shallow, but he no longer felt that way. He found her deeply loyal—having seen so many handsome men, she remained consistently fond of him. He didn't like her treating him like a child, so he had pressured Xu Zimo to find a way to adjust the trading center's time. He wanted to grow up quickly and appear before her in the form she liked best. He wasn't as confident as he looked on the outside; he truly worried she might be captivated by men from other worlds.
The Emperor had already gone to perform the sacrifices to heaven and earth before Shen Yunyun snapped out of it. She had just been staring at a man, completely mesmerized—he fit her aesthetic perfectly. She couldn't reconcile this tall, jade-like man with exquisite features with that little baby. Damn it, she needed a bottle of valerian tablets. Otherwise, her heart wouldn't calm down.
As a result, during the entire crowning ceremony for the Emperor, she was distracted, her mind constantly racing with who knows what. By the time she came back to her senses, the Emperor's crowning ceremony was already complete. His courtesy name was Zhengxuan, and his style name was Hanshen. Shen Yunyun wasn't surprised by the courtesy name Zhengxuan; she had coincidentally named him Tang Yuan, and since the courtesy name and given name complemented each other, it was natural to pick a similar meaning. In ancient times, "Yuan" and "Xuan" were interchangeable. But the style name was a bit odd. Why call him Hanshen? And he had deliberately glanced at her—what did that have to do with her?
After the entire ceremony, it was time for the banquet. Shen Yunyun hadn't even handled a single piece of official business yet, and now she had to attend a feast first. The key point was: the Emperor sat in the center, the Empress Dowager on the left, and she was on the right—how did that happen?